Birthday events celebrate a big orange landmark

The Golden Gate Bridge opened 75 years ago next Sunday, so it's fitting that many birthday events for the legendary link to points north should cluster around next weekend.

But if you have other plans or feel timid about confronting potential traffic gridlock, don't worry: Many events continue for several weeks or months. Here's a selection:

"Wild Flight of Imagination: The Story of the Golden Gate Bridge." The exhibition's title comes from a 1921 promotional prospectus for the bridge. Works by artists hired by bridge lobbyists are on view here for the first time in years. Also included are photographs and scrapbooks depicting the lives of workers on the project. Some of the images on view are by photographers as well-known as Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange. Through Oct. 14, noon-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays. $5 suggested donation, ages 5 and younger free. California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., San Francisco. 415-357-1848, www.californiahistoricalsociety.org.

Paul Goldberger. Hear the architecture critic in conversation with Allison Arieff of the San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association, as they discuss what makes a civic structure iconic and what's hot in the architecture world now. 8 p.m. Tuesday. $20-$25, students $10. Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St. 415-292-1200, www.jccsf.org.

"Before the Bridge: Sight and Sound at the Golden Gate." An exhibit on the sensory experience of the Golden Gate before the bridge, featuring photography, maps, charts, paintings and recordings of natural and nautical sounds. Wednesday through Oct. 28, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. Free admission. 103 Montgomery St., Presidio Main Post. Presented by the Presidio Trust and the Walt Disney Family Museum.

"The Bridge on the Big Screen." A series of films presented free, showing how the Golden Gate captured the imagination of Hollywood and the hearts of moviegoers. Opens Saturday and continues through Sept. 15. Kickoff celebration -- with a screening of "It Came From Beneath the Sea," live music by Poor Man's Whiskey and food for purchase from Off the Grid and the Disney Cafe -- takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, outdoors on the Main Post Green, near 34 Graham St.; free admission. Upcoming films, screened outdoors on the Main Post Green: "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco," June 2; and "Superman: The Movie," June 9. For each, visitors are asked to arrive at 6 p.m., screening starts at dusk. Indoors at the Walt Disney Family Museum (104 Montgomery St.): Each film begins at 6 p.m. -- "Vertigo," June 16; "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," July 21; "A View to a Kill," Aug. 18; and "Monsters vs. Aliens," Sept. 15. Free admission. Very limited on-site parking is free, but use of public transit is strongly encouraged; information at www.presidio.gov/GGB75.

Tributes for 75th Anniversary of the Bridge at Fort Mason Center. Launched in January, this series of events and programs will culminate May 27 with a daylong event. Activities include a farmers market; music by the Fortuna High School Band and Choir from Humboldt County throughout the day; a selection of bridge-related books and memorabilia at Readers Bookstore; a "SEAT" exhibit that allows visitors to sit down to enjoy the view of the Golden Gate; and a fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. Starting Tuesday will be the open-ended "Goldengate Variations" by Stuart Kinmond, 30 images combining photography, digital techniques and drawing, at the Cafe in Building C. Fort Mason Center, bounded by Van Ness Avenue and Laguna and Bay streets at the bay. www.fortmason.org/events.

Local Artists' Interpretations of the Bridge. Presented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Visit the museum next Sunday for a Family Day featuring bridge-related activities, and stop by the Blue Bottle Coffee Bar anytime this summer for a special-edition bridge-themed dessert. See an online exhibition of photographs of the Golden Gate from the SFMOMA collection at www.sfmoma.org, and discover reflections by writers and artists on the bridge on the Open Space museum blog. At the SFMOMA Artists Gallery at Fort Mason Center, see a bridge-related exhibition, May 26 through July 31. www.sfmoma.org.